Random subjective observations of what's on my mind

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A quick google search indicates that the terminology; real-time learning, first appeared within online education. One definition used was “… forms of education in which students learn from instructors, colleagues, or peers at the same time, but not in person.”

I thought of it after chatting about Ushahidi with co-founder and former CEO Juliana Rotich on my podcast. (To listen to the episode, subscribe to “Plurrify” in your podcast app, or go here.) Juliana explained how core funding gives innovative entities the flexibility to explore new ideas and to learn through mistakes and that this is what had allowed Ushahidi to be continually innovative after its initial success. Or in other words, to keep innovating new products, not just maintain its current.

This is a rather elementary concept, however I’ve yet to come across a social entrepreneur or an organisation of any kind for that matter, that has explained this in a simplistic way.

I shall henceforth talk about this as “real-time learning”.

For innovators and entrepreneurs in the ICT space, or at least for the successful one’s, this is intuitively known. However not by the donors or the donor community. Note above that Juliana highlighted the importance of core funding, something that unfortunately today is only employed by a minority of donor entities.

Project-based funding, the funding norm today, means that you formulate a project plan, which in turn influences your deliverables, which then are linked to the budget. Once you pivot – yes for truly innovative organisations and projects it’s not a matter if you’ll pivot, but when – then you have to re-write the project plan, update the deliverables and the budget. Besides being time-consuming, and not having any impact on your deliverables, this is often when the relationship between donor and implementer gets tested.

From a donor perspective it appears that the implementer doesn’t know what they’re doing – which ironically they often don’t, if they did, they wouldn’t be innovating. From an implementer perspective the donor appears unsupportive and slow to react. Both lose confidence in each other and down the rabbit hole you go.

Having been a funder, a recipient, a go between and an implementer of ICT projects I’ve seen good projects fail simply because of overly bureaucratic processes and unrealistic or poorly managed expectations. Often without either party understanding why and what really happened.

Even on successfully implemented projects, talent is often wasted on heavy, barely read, documentation. This is not only a waste of time on a successful project, but when it fails, which most innovative ICT related projects do, it’s even worse. Worse case scenario, project-based funding causes harm. It ties up scarce talents, i.e. good innovators and entrepreneurs, in document heavy processes, moving them away from implementing, and having actual impact. I’ve seen this happen many a times. Yet, the current structures remain the same and as long as they do, so will the outcomes, and that includes some donors causing more harm than good when investing in innovation.

It’s a donor myth that there are many great ideas out there. Even more so if you consider the limited amount of entrepreneurs that can successfully implement the aforementioned idea. That combination is rare. So what can one do? Simple, only invest in organisations or individuals that you trust.

Invest in talent. Use your clout to connect them to resources.Give them space to perform.

To decide which organisations or individuals to trust and invest in, each donor must set their own tolerances. However I’d suggest that the implementers that employ real-time learning would be put front and center. In the long run, they will be successful.

I’ve lived on four continents and have had the world as my workplace. Working for big multilateral actors with project management, ICT’s and communication in every role imaginable from donor, broker, recipient and implementer. It’s been a very rewarding journey both professionally and personally. More than anything I’ve had the pleasure of meeting great people from across the globe that in different ways are part of the solution; making the world and our communities a better place. People are the key. Their stories inspire and gives me hope that we can achieve a better tomorrow. Together and for everyone. So how do you get their stories out? Well, one way is through a podcast.

The larger question Plurrify pursue is; are there any patterns as to why the social entrepreneurs interviewed on the show have been successful where most fail? Is it down to personality? Organisational philosophy? Stubbornness? Drive? Innovative minds and ideas? Serendipity? Fifty other things? A mix? Or none of the above?

Realising and supporting the idea that the collective mind is greater than the individual, I decided to make these discussions public through a podcast series. This allows us to attempt to solve the greater issue together. Add your expertise, perspective, professional experience and knowledge to the process. I want the Plurrify podcast to be a journey we embark on together.

I’ll use this space to post reflections on the conversations in the podcast. Staying true to the tagline “random subjective observations of what’s on my mind”, there will be blog posts when I find it relevant, or am inspired. Stay tuned.

As some of you noted I left Kenya briefly in the summer to work from Sida HQ in Stockholm as I was awaiting my new posting. Stockholm did show itself from its sunny side, and learning about the work, processes and strategies at HQ was certainly a good experience. Even better, it was fun to meet up with friends without the usual time pressure I normally experience once I’m back home.

Anyway, the (European) summer has passed and I have – finally – gotten my new posting. As of about a month ago I joined Ushahidi. “Ushahidi”, which means “testimony” in Swahili, mapped reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. This platform is now used in 150+ countries worldwide for all sorts of issues mapping. It’s a non-profit tech company that specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories.

For those unaware, quite a few readers here I’d guess, Ushahidi is very well known in the ICT4D space worldwide. The people behind it also started the famous iHub and are Ted speakers.

I joined to work on Making All Voices Count. Funded by, amongst others, Sida. The aim of Making All Voices Count is a substantial push towards effective democratic governance through increased transparency and accountability. Twelve countries across Africa and Asia will be the “playground”. Our Ushahidi team will head the innovation part, focusing mostly on mobile or web solutions. We will award grants to organisations or individuals, place “fellows” within the governments, have mentors to increase the effectiveness of the initiative and so on.

Suffice to say it will be much hard work, but it’s fast looking as the most exciting project I have worked with.

With USAID as another donor the call for proposals was officially launched yesterday by President Obama. So here we go!

I was afraid that my posts would eventually become less frequent and more sporadic. Just didn’t think it would happen this soon. My workload has been keeping me away from the writing I guess. Since I wrote last I have organized a Policy Forum for GESCI and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland where we hosted experts on ICT, Education, Science, Technology and Innovation from ministries across several African countries. We presented and discussed the critical link between skills development and education, innovation and enterprise creation (more here).

The capacity building part of “my” project, where we had 15 students within four areas (animation, graphic design, games development and digital music production) has also concluded and their graduation ceremony held. Their work was truly impressive and the animated short film below, which is the result of great cross-collaboration between the students, perhaps the most striking piece. More examples of their work is available at www.culturalindustriesafrica.org.

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I’ve also been on my first safari which was absolutely phenomenal. Watching leopards, lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, zebras, jackals, wild dogs etc. go about their day and play in the wild is something I would recommend everyone to do at least once in their lifetime.

Jackal and giraffe at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy with Mount Kenya in the background

However the main reason for this blog post is in regards to the upcoming Kenyan election. Last time the outcome spurred ethnic violence that left many dead and even more homeless. Whether or not we will see the same unfortunate turn of events unfold this time remains unclear, but is surely the main topic of conversation here right now. No matter what, and since I am not working on the elections, the decision has been made that I will be in Tanzania for the next couple of weeks.

I am not sure if I will have access to internet or a phone while there, so I feel it wise to inform everyone now in case I become seriously offline in March.

I’ve been asked about my views on the gun control and Disney debates. I think this Mark Twain quote sums it up pretty well:

“Don’t argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

That’s my way of saying I have better things to do than spend time on what should be non-issues. The gun control debate in the US is about as sane and fact based as the health care debate. Both plagued by strong lobby influences for a status quo. In regards to the Disney debate I simply cannot comprehend, with everything else going on in the world, how anyone can find time to commit to such nonsense. Let alone be upset about it.